ST. AUGUSTINE FL trip
May 13-18 2024
PART 3
Williams Street in St. Augustine.
The soaring road bridge is the Francis & Mary Usina Bridge, a 1995 span that carries FL A1A over the Tolomato River.
Visible here is the Bridge of Lions. This notable bridge will loom large on this trip.
A view of the Bridge of Lions from a small boardwalk at Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park. I know you get excited every time I mention a boardwalk, because of the woman who smiled at me on the Ocean City, Md., boardwalk in September 2020, but this was nothing like that.
Magnolia Avenue. The house up ahead looks like the White House!
Myrtle Avenue!
South on San Marco.
Castillo de San Marcos is a fort built from 1672-95 overlooking Matanzas Bay. Its construction was ordered by Spanish Florida's governor after St. Augustine was raided by English buccaneer Robert Searles.
The Bridge of Lions is again seen at left.
Getting on the Bridge of Lions. The original bridge opened in 1927, but this is actually a 2010 replacement. It carries FL A1A across Matanzas Bay to Anastasia Island. It's not just a bridge. It's a work of art (as Ronald McDonald would say)! Note the marble lion sculpture at right.
The Bridge of Lions is a drawbridge.
The bridge descends to Anastasia Island - home of St. Augustine Beach.
FL A1A on Anastasia Island.
Notice the lighthouse peering up from above the trees.
Red Cox Drive. Not Redd Foxx, but Red Cox.
Red Cox Drive again.
The beautiful lighthouse that loomed over the island.
This is labeled as A1A Beach Boulevard and used to be FL A1A.
The boulevard sweeps around this curve.
As you know, a beach is like a people's road. As with boardwalks and trails, it's not a road in the sense that cars should be driven on it. Rather, it can be used as a footpath, meaning it's open to people who don't have hulking SUV's or Learjets. This is the beach at St. Augustine Beach, overlooking Homer Simpson's "land the law forgot."
Looking south on the beach.
North on the beach.
Heading back toward St. Augustine on the boulevard.
A1A Beach Boulevard again.